Personnel Expenditure Analysis Tool Update: 2022-23 Personnel Expenditures
Over the last year, excluding one-time payments, total spending on personnel increased by 5.6 per cent—well above pre-pandemic (2007-08 to 2019-20) average annual growth of 3.1 per cent. However, smaller one-time payments related to actuarial deficiencies in the Government’s Superannuation Account led to a 6.9 per cent decrease in total personnel spending, from $60.7 billion in 2021-22 to $56.5 billion in 2022-23.
Over the last year, excluding one-time payments, total spending on personnel increased by 5.6 per cent—well above pre-pandemic (2007-08 to 2019-20) average annual growth of 3.1 per cent. However, smaller one-time payments related to actuarial deficiencies in the Government’s Superannuation Account led to a 6.9 per cent decrease in total personnel spending, from $60.7 billion in 2021-22 to $56.5 billion in 2022-23.
Public Accounts of Canada
Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
Public Accounts of Canada
Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
Data are in fiscal years (2022 corresponds to fiscal year 2022-23).
Other payments include spending related to Employment Insurance, employer contributions to hospital and medical plans and disability insurance, and other miscellaneous payments. One-time payments include spending related to actuarial deficiencies in the Government’s Superannuation Account, retroactive payments, severance pay and termination benefits (immediate settlement), and compensation for the Phoenix pay system.
The cost drivers of personnel spending (after adjusting for one-time payments) can be divided into the number of personnel (FTEs) and the compensation per FTE. Much of the increase over the last year was due to an expansion of 4.4 per cent in the size of the public service, accounting for almost 80 per cent of the overall growth in personnel spending in 2022-23 (Figure 2).
Public Accounts of Canada
Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
Public Accounts of Canada
Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
Data are in fiscal years (2022 corresponds to fiscal year 2022-23).
In 2022-23, the federal public service expanded to 431,000 full-time equivalents (FTEs), an increase of 18,000 FTEs compared to the previous year. This represents 3,000 additional FTEs compared to those estimated in the 2023-24 Departmental Plans.[^1] Since 2020-21, on average, FTEs grew by 4.1 per cent annually, well above pre-pandemic (2007-08 to 2019-20) average annual growth of 1.0 per cent (Figure 3). [^2] The number of FTEs employed per 100,000 Canadians increased from 1,072 in 2021-22 to 1,093 in 2022-23, an increase of 1.9 percent. This brings FTEs per capita to the highest level they have been over the 2006-07 to 2022-23 period.
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
Statistics Canada
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
Statistics Canada
Data are in fiscal years (2022 corresponds to fiscal year 2022-23).
Total compensation per FTE increased by 1.1 per cent from $125,273 per FTE in 2021-22 to $126,693 per FTE in 2022-23—below the growth realized in the preceding two years (3.3 per cent, on average), and the average annual growth of 2.0 per cent observed over 2006-07 to 2019-20.
Total compensation per FTE primarily increased due to larger employer contributions to hospital and medical plans, and disability insurance (which are part of other payments). Other payments per FTE in 2022-23 increased by 9.3 per cent compared to the previous year. On a year-over-year basis, there is a significant amount of variance in growth per FTE spending in the other components. Salaries and wages, the largest component of personnel spending, increased by 0.6 per cent, while pensions decreased by 0.4 per cent and overtime and bonuses by 6.1 per cent.
Receiver General for Canada
Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
Receiver General for Canada
Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer